When I get to be a composerI'm gonna write me some music aboutDaybreak
in AlabamaAnd I'm gonna put the purtiest songs in itRising out of the ground like a swamp mistAnd falling out
of heaven like soft dew.I'm gonna put some tall tall trees in itAnd the scent of pine needlesAnd the smell of
red clay after rainAnd long red necksAnd poppy colored facesAnd big brown armsAnd the field daisy eyesOf
black and white black white black peopleAnd I'm gonna put white handsAnd black hands and brown and yellow handsAnd
red clay earth hands in itTouching everybody with kind fingersAnd touching each other natural as dewIn that dawn
of music when IGet to be a composerAnd write about daybreakIn Alabama.

An interesting interpretation

Melissa thinks this poem is about peace and freedom. Hughes says "When I get to
be a composer" but really she thinks he is talking about just being an influential person, enough so that people really listen
to him and so that he can credibly tell them about things. He talks about really being able to use the senses to their full
extent with things that are very simple. Hearing the "purtiest songs," feeling the "swamp mist," and smelling the "pine needles"
and the "red clay after the rain." Then he starts talking of body parts and a lot about hands, and he talks about how he wants
to put hands of all different colors together "touching each other natural as dew." This is Hughes' way of saying he wants
to help put an end to segregation, and for everyone to happily live together in peace. Daybreak in Alabama is Hughes' idea
of perfection.

I, Tracy, think this poem is about how Langston Hughes was anti-segragation. Daybreak in Alabama to me means that
the "daybreak" is a new begining for state of Alabama, when at the time it was one of the most segregated and mean spirited
states in the union. If Hughes was a composer of humanity he would create beauty from making all of the different intruments
of people work together. I think this poem is about how Hughes was looking to the future when we are all together
as Americans. He was hoping for a time when people can celebrate their culture and ethnicity without being ashamed
or hated for who they are. I think we have come very far since this poem was written, and perhaps Hughes would be happy
of all of the progress Americans have made toward accepting one another.